WHAT Zionist Jews are doing to native Palestinians mocks the value of being human. For 100 years, they have refused to accept that the lives of Palestinians are equal to theirs. The world can no longer afford to be silent. People who believe in equality must speak out. Yes, they will be called anti-Semitic. They will be bullied. They will be intimidated. They will be threatened. But they must be willing to pay the price if they hope to achieve equality for all. Decent Jews are waking up to the reality of Zionism. They are a tiny minority. They deserve support. Our generation can't say it didn't know. The death, destruction and human misery in Gaza are made in Israel. More than 1.5 million people have been under siege for 1000 days. It's no accident that Palestinian children are dying in Gaza. This is not a natural disaster. It is a manmade disaster blessed by the US, Canada, the UK and Europe. One day, those responsible will be convicted for war crimes. The West Bank, Arab East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip have been under Israeli military occupation for more than 40 years. Armed Jews-only settlements are being built daily on native Palestinian land, Apartheid style. A wall divides: Palestinian suffering isn't on the daily news. Most people in the West are unaware of their daily struggles for survival. Zionist Jews breed hatred in Israeli schools. They forbid intermarriage between Israeli Jews and native Palestinians. They outlaw Nakba remembrances. They shamefully neglect Palestinian towns in Israel. They kill their leaders who attempt to correct the wrong. They assassinate Europeans and Palestinians who resist. In the West Zionist Jews create, encourage, support wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They force countries to change laws so Israelis can escape prosecutions. They cheer for racist, anti-immigration politicians in Canada and Europe. They are the enemies of freedom of speech in schools, universities and the public at large. Our “free” media isn't free to report this news, but it does give Zionist oppressors a platform that allows them to exploit the Holocaust, and mount disinformation and misinformation campaigns. We must resist propaganda campaigns that smear the oppressed including their religion and culture, and defame their supporters. Islamic and Christian sites are under siege. The Tomb of Abraham, revered by Muslims and housed in a mosque for the last 1400 years, is now under occupation, and armed Jewish fanatics displace native Palestinians from around it. On February 25, 1994, during the holy month of Ramadan, the American Zionist Jew Baruch Goldstein killed 29 worshippers and wounded 125 others as they were praying in that same mosque, Abraham's mosque in Hebron. Goldstein is considered a martyr, and his grave in the front yard of the mosque is a site of pilgrimage for Zionist Jews everywhere. I have been there. Young Muslim worshippers, meanwhile, are not allowed to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Arab East Jerusalem. What do we say to the native Palestinian mother who lost her child? To the farmer who lost his livelihood? To all the families who lack clean water? To the young girl who cannot study for lack of electricity? To the sick who cannot find medication? To the millions of natives who have lost hope to live free? To the millions of Palestinian refuges who are denied the right to return to their land? What do we say to the parents of Rachel Corrie, 23, a US peace activist crushed to death by the Israeli army on March 16, 2003 as she stood in the path of a military bulldozer to prevent it from demolishing Palestinian homes in Gaza? “I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about.” Who said that? ��" Archbishop Desmond Tutu. When a man like him says things like that, perhaps we should listen. The right of return over the bodies of native Palestinians is given to Jews only. Jews everywhere must be freed from this ideology. It's bad. It's extreme. It's stupid. It's wrong. It's evil. What Zionist Jews are doing to native Palestinians is a human crisis. We in the West must say, no. Future generations will know whether we tried.
Elmasry is a Professor Emeritus of Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo. He can be reached at [email protected]
